Wheel of Time TV Series Sets Showrunner, Production Studio

Based on the best-selling novels by Robert Jordan.

By
Terri Schwartz

The long-in-development Wheel of Time TV series adaptation has set its showrunner and production studio, IGN has learned.

Rafe Judkins has been tapped to serve as showrunner, executive producer and writer on the Wheel of Time TV show. A longtime fan of Robert Jordan's epic 14-book fantasy series, Judkins previously wrote and produced on Marvel's Agents of SHIELD. He also wrote episodes of Chuck and wrote and produced episodes of Netflix's Hemlock Grove.

Sony Pictures Television will serve as the producing studio for the Wheel of Time adaptation. Red Eagle Entertainment and Radar Pictures will produce. Red Eagle's Rick Selvage and Larry Mondragon will act as executive producers, with Radar's Ted Field and Mike Weber and Goosebumps' Darren Lemke also serving as executive producers. Jordan's widow and longtime Wheel of Time editor Harriet McDougal will serve as consulting producer.

The next step for the in-development series is securing a network for distribution. No target release date has been set.

Based on Robert Jordan's epic 14-book series, Wheel of Time follows a young man and his group of friends who are forced out of their quiet village into a world beyond their imagination. Since its debut in 1990, The Wheel of Time has reached millions of readers around the world and has gone on to be one of the most popular fantasy series of all time.

The Wheel of Time series has been in the works for many years, with Red Eagle Entertainment working hard to bring Jordan's beloved world and characters to life. In 2015, the production company released a low budget "pilot" for Wheel of Time that aired late in the night on FXX, seemingly in an attempt to hold onto the series' rights. In April 2016, McDougal released a press statement previewing that the novels would become a "cutting edge TV series."

This announcement coincides with the annual JordanCon convention, which was founded in honor of the late Robert Jordan. It runs from April 21 to 23 in Atlanta, Ga.

Terri Schwartz is Entertainment Editor at IGN. Talk to her on Twitter at @Terri_Schwartz.